Fifty years later, the mystery is resolved. Dutch police say they have found a painting from Brueghel disappeared in a Polish museum five decades ago, with the help of a famous art detective and journalists. The work, entitled “Woman Carrying the Embers” in English, (woman carrying embers), painted by the Flemish master Pieter Brueghel around 1626, had disappeared from the National Museum of Gdansk in the Communist era in 1974.
The story of the round painting, measuring only 17 centimeters, is worthy of a spy novel fed by many rumors, notably evoking the involvement of Polish secret services of the time. The painting had certainly disappeared forever. But the fate decided otherwise.
The work is currently under a key in a museum in the province of Limburg in the Netherlands. “We are 100 % sure that this is the painting that disappeared from the National Museum of Gdansk in 1974,” Dutch police from Dutch police said.
A work in several million dollars
The first suspicions were awake when journalists from the Dutch art magazine “Vind” spotted the table during an exhibition in the Netherlands last year. The work was loaned to the Gouda museum by a private collector. “An employee of the magazine, John Brozius, did research and came across an article on a Polish site containing an old black and white photo,” says Arthur Brand, a famous Dutch art detective.
“The article was on a flight to Gdansk in 1974 during which two works of art had been stolen: The Crucifixiona drawing by Antoine Van Dyck, and a painting by Brueghel the Younger, ”he says. Vind’s journeys are not sure that it is Brueghel’s work, but he looked a lot like Arthur Brand.
Police, art sleuth crack case of Brueghel stolen in Poland in 1974.
Arthur Brand, a well-known Dutch art detective, said suspicions were first raised when journalists spotted “Woman Carrying the Embers”, painted in 1626, at a Dutch exhibition last yearhttps://t.co/OL5WU1FKZe pic.twitter.com/s0S13GDcVm
– AFP News Agency (@afp) March 3, 2025
The painting represents a peasantry holding pliers with smoking embers in one hand and a cauldron of water in the other, a reference to an old Dutch proverb: “Never believe a person who carries water in one hand and fire in the other”, therefore beware of duplicity. The value of the table is unknown, but the works of Brueghel the young person generally sell millions of dollars, according to the Christie’s auction.